[18th Anniversary] Asus Black Pearl - P5k-Premium Testing Report

[XtremeTiramisu]

any other pics besides the outside of the box? lol

As you wish, you'll see a lot more pics later when I've more stuff to put together..

Alright! Our first head to head test by someone pushing the equipment to the limit! I'm looking forward to seeing if there is a difference beyond no mosfets soldered to the back of the PCB and a different box

Are you going to do a head to head challenge thread using the same cpu?

Yes I'll
But I'm still debating whether I want to stick with the P5K-P BP or get the Blitz formula that will hit retail real soon..

[timber715]

Man, what do you do with all those boards... wanted to ugrade bec of your oc, though i can't afford them like you , good thing i can wait... will wait for your other board findings
Good luck, hope it brings promising results to satisfy us both. lol

[bro20000]

XtremeTiramisu how you finding your new board what they like with quads!

[bito]

Has anyone with the P5K-Premium noticed that there is NO vdroop at all, with dampener enabled !!

[TinTin]

Has anyone with the P5K-Premium noticed that there is NO vdroop at all, with dampener enabled !!

setting 1.40V in BIOS, then 1.38V rock solid idle and full load with Damper enabled.

[bro20000]

I havent notice a Vdroop at all! Its a really solid board!

[XtremeTiramisu]

There is nothing bad in terms of OC-ability about P5K-Deluxe that I already have with numerous fantastic quad-core OC results but I think the P5K-P B.P. should be able to take the OC-ability and stability at higher clocked state by a one full notch, I hope.

Since 18th Anni P5K-P Black Pearl is around the price as what P5K-Deluxe sells now and exactly the same price when the P5K-Deluxe first hit the retail roughly 2 month ago, It's a no brainer that one should pick the P5K-Premium Black Pearl 18th Anniversary edition over the P5K-Dlx. It has everything P5K-Deluxe offers plus better hardware components and perhaps better OC-ability at no premium charges.

So people who passed on the P5K-Dlx or who hasn't not yet buy a P5K-Dlx should just skip it and get the P5K-P BP, it should yield equivalent performance or even better.

[Budwise]

mine comes in today. I'll post some results later this evening when i get a chance...

[lefy]

can anyone confirm whether heat is lower on the premium vs deluxe?

[XtremeTiramisu]

I'll answer and confirm all questions you guys have about P5K-Dlx vs P5K-P Black Pearl ed.

My sex appealing 18th anniversary Black Pearl is sitting beside me quietly right now and I'll get everything setup and start OC just how I did in my last thread, I guess you all have seen it.

Stay tuned

[Xilikon]

Let me know of your results as well, this one might be the gem I'm looking with my Q6600, especially with the same stepping and batch as yours I also watercool soon so this board might be the best pick.

[XtremeTiramisu]

Let me know of your results as well, this one might be the gem I'm looking with my Q6600, especially with the same stepping and batch as yours I also watercool soon so this board might be the best pick.

Please don't get confused watercooling with the P5K-Premium Black Pearl.
The implemented watercooling mobo that people often get confused with this one is the Blitz Extreme or Formula Special Edition.

However, from what I read so far is that the Black Pearl uses the same ref board as the Blitz series but less the dual Crossfire x8 and the obvious Fuzion water block.

I won't go watercooling anytime soon so the Black Pearl looks like the perfect choice for me.

[jkresh]

XtremeTiramisu, while the blitz formula se and extreme are the ones with waterblocks built in the p5k premium says (or at least said) that it was made for watercooling (basically they changed something from the deluxe so the heatpipes would be better able to deal with the lack of a hsf on the cpu).

[Xilikon]

Please don't get confused watercooling with the P5K-Premium Black Pearl.
The implemented watercooling mobo that people often get confused with this one is the Blitz Extreme or Formula Special Edition.

However, from what I read so far is that the Black Pearl uses the same ref board as the Blitz series but less the dual Crossfire x8 and the obvious Fuzion water block.

I won't go watercooling anytime soon so the Black Pearl looks like the perfect choice for me.

I know this and I mean that since I'm watercooling, I wanted a board who can take care of less airflow and provide enhanced options for my needs.

[XtremeTiramisu]

XtremeTiramisu, while the blitz formula se and extreme are the ones with waterblocks built in the p5k premium says (or at least said) that it was made for watercooling (basically they changed something from the deluxe so the heatpipes would be better able to deal with the lack of a hsf on the cpu).

I know this and I mean that since I'm watercooling, I wanted a board who can take care of less airflow and provide enhanced options for my needs.

Gotcha both
18th Anni P5K Premium Black Pearl FTW

[Budwise]

got mine up and running with 4X1Gb rock solid so far. My Abit simply refused to run 4Gb at high FSB but so far the P5K Premium is doing great. I am running watercooling and active cooling on the NB. I personally wouldnt want the restriction and added heat in my loop that the Blitz will offer. Im making sure that its solid with some Orthos at 378X9 before i move forward.

[krille]

So, is Power Consumption on P5K-Premium much lower than on P5K-Deluxe?

I'm asking this as P5K-Deluxe seems to consume about 20-40W more than Gigabyte and Abit P35 boards, for no reason at all really. At least according to TechReport and X-bit labs.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q2.../index.x?pg=16
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai..._17.html#sect0

The P5K-Premium does seem like the best board, but if it too draws 20-40W more than the competition, I'm out. (Heat = noise. I hate noise.)

Thanks and best of luck with your new board!

[shiznit93]

I have my Q6600 running right now @ 3.0ghz (factory cooler sorry), 1.35v in bios, 1.328 in windows NO vdroop during load. My 4x1GB ballistix pc2-8000 is running 4-4-4-12 @ 500mhz 2.1v. So far I am happy with this board, when I get my Ultra 120 Ex next week I'll post real oc results.

Now, does anyone know how to make coretemp work on Vista x64? Even if i run as admin it gives me the looping crash that forces me to restart the pc.

To the last poster, even if it does draw 20-40 more watts than the competition (which I doubt once you disable the wi-fi, secondary lan, firewire, and all the other useless crap), how will that equal more noise? 20-40W might put your psu into the next tier of its fanspeed but I doubt it will be that much louder, and it would be spinning just as fast once you start a game and the video card starts chugging watts.

[jkresh]

shiznit93 I think krille is suggesting that with the 20-40 watts more you will want/need a fan pointing at the heatpipes which will increase the noise, or that it will cause your cpu/gpu whatever to get warmer raising their fan speeds, not that the heat will create the noise but that dealing with it will.

[krille]

jkresh, sorta. Essentially, 20-40W extra heat generated by my mobo forces me to make my CPU, GPU or something like that generate 20-40W less (ie less OC = less performance) in order to maintain the same quiet noise level X as I would with the rest of my system drawing 20-40W more (with a higher OC = more performance). I'm just trying to be purely realistic and economical here.

Every little extra watt needs to get out of the case some way. This usually means speeding up the case/cpu/gpu/psu fans. Besides, my computer is hot already and I don't need ASUS to help the situation. Even though I must say it otherwise seems to be the best board. (Damn! Being noise-sensitive SUCKS. I used to be "normal", but somehow my old PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 850 SSI with its 80mm tri-bladed delta messed something up in my head a little bit too much. Now there seems to be no turning back and I'm obsessed with noise (or getting rid thereof). )

And I probably wouldn't have gone for the last 100Mhz this board's additional no-vdroop feature may allow me anyway (for that very same reason), as that would mean a substantial increase in noise. Does it make sense now?

Because AFAIK this whole vdroop business only allows one to OC higher (= even more heat), right? Or am I completely out in the blue here?

[XtremeTiramisu]

I have my Q6600 running right now @ 3.0ghz (factory cooler sorry), 1.35v in bios, 1.328 in windows NO vdroop during load. My 4x1GB ballistix pc2-8000 is running 4-4-4-12 @ 500mhz 2.1v. So far I am happy with this board, when I get my Ultra 120 Ex next week I'll post real oc results.

Now, does anyone know how to make coretemp work on Vista x64? Even if i run as admin it gives me the looping crash that forces me to restart the pc.

To the last poster, even if it does draw 20-40 more watts than the competition (which I doubt once you disable the wi-fi, secondary lan, firewire, and all the other useless crap), how will that equal more noise? 20-40W might put your psu into the next tier of its fanspeed but I doubt it will be that much louder, and it would be spinning just as fast once you start a game and the video card starts chugging watts.

I can finally use Coretemp 0.95 in Vista 64 bit. Please use the following FYI.

All you have to do is type "cmd" in the Search Box included in the Vista Start menu. Next, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open a command prompt window with elevated privileges. Now enter bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS in order to disable Driver Signing and reboot.

Exactly as what others and I have stated, Speedfan's core temp + 15c = Coretemps core temps.
It's always your CPU Tjunction temp (100c) - DTS = core temps. Coretemp 0.95 can read the max Tjunction of the Q6600 G0 at 100c properly but Speedfan assumes the max Tjunction for the Quad is 85c like all C2D. In the end, either programs give accurate core temp readings.

[shiznit93]

Thanks tiramisu, I had tried to disable signature checking earlier but I forgot to do it with admin command prompt.

[WSX]

subscribed!

[fornowagain]

Just read a report that the P5K Premium doesn't like Vista 32Bit, anyone had a problem?

http://forums.hexus.net/showpost.php...5&postcount=13

What do you mean, it doesnt like vista 32 bit? Driver problem? Which driver?

no one knows, but with this motherboard no matter what component you change it will just freeze on the install and if it installs it will eventually just not boot in!.
they tried 2 other p5k premiums and it was the same thing.

strange thing is the deluxe is identical in almost every way and this seems to work fine!.

and before you ask, yes it was with the new bios and old ones.

[AndyM]

So, is Power Consumption on P5K-Premium much lower than on P5K-Deluxe?

I'm asking this as P5K-Deluxe seems to consume about 20-40W more than Gigabyte and Abit P35 boards, for no reason at all really. At least according to TechReport and X-bit labs.

I'd like to see some tests myself. I'm wondering, could the power consumption differences be a result of the same vcore settings across the boards tested, but ASUS's voltage damper not letting the vcore droop as much resulting in more power draw in comparison to a droopier board?

That said, I wish ASUS came out with this instead of the Deluxe...I like the mosfet placement much better than the Deluxe I have, and cant return and exchange for the same priced Premium as it is too old, doooh!